Long-press a paragraph to send danmaku
The screens went white first. Then red. Then they flashed my face across every panel in the arena, dirt on my cheek and Nox still dripping off my shoulder like wet ink.
Host match confirmed.
Mara Voss.
Heir.
I didn't know what the last word meant. But the crowd did. Half of them were on their feet. The other half looked like they'd just watched someone sign a death warrant. Maybe they had.
"Move." A hand locked around my arm. Not rough. Worse. Careful. Like I was cargo.
I twisted but the guard was already pulling me toward the cage door. Nox hissed against my collarbone. It wanted to spread. I shoved it down. One nightmare per night.
They walked me under the stands. Concrete tunnel. Fluoros every ten feet. My boots squeaked. Blood, probably. Not all of it mine.
"Where are we going?"
The guard didn't answer. Just keyed open a door I hadn't seen and pushed me through.
The room inside wasn't a holding cell. It was nicer than my apartment. Leather couch. Glass table. A wall screen showing the arena feed on mute. And standing in the middle of it all, a woman in a charcoal suit with a tablet in one hand and a smile that didn't touch her eyes.
"Ms. Voss." She didn't offer a hand. "Sit."
I didn't. "What the hell is an Heir match?"
"A formality." She tapped the tablet. "You made it through your qualifier. Quite dramatically. Now we process your contract."
"I already signed."
"You signed a probationary waiver. This is your formal entry." She turned the tablet around. The screen was full of text. Dense. Legal. I caught maybe one word in five. "Standard terms. Medical. Liability. Prize structure."
I skimmed the first paragraph. "This says I'm signing over a dependent."
"Collateral." She said it like it was a normal word. "The tournament invests significant resources in each fighter. We require equivalent assurance of commitment."
"You want me to give you my sister."
"Not give. Register. She remains in your residence until you either win or forfeit. If you forfeit, her contract transfers to cover your entry costs. If you win, she's released and the debt clears." She tilted her head. "It's standard."
I looked at Nox. It was still. Too still. "And if I don't sign?"
"Then you're disqualified. Your qualifier purse is voided. And the original debt stands." She pulled the tablet back. "Fifty-eight thousand. Due in six days."
My mouth was dry. I could taste copper. "You're saying I either sign her over or I lose her anyway."
"I'm saying you have an opportunity most people would kill for. Literally." She smiled. "You've already proven you can fight. The Heir just confirmed it."
"Who's the Heir?"
She didn't answer. Just held out the tablet.
I stared at the screen. The words blurred. I thought about Lina. About the beans she ate for dinner three nights straight. About the lock I put on our door that wouldn't stop anyone who really wanted in.
I thought about the beast. About the way Nox had moved without me telling it to. About the wrongness under my ribs that hadn't gone away since the bond snapped into place.
Nox stirred. Cold. It didn't say anything but I felt it anyway. A pull. A warning.
I took the tablet.
The blood pad was at the bottom. A small square. Red light underneath. I'd seen them before. Binders used them. One print and the contract locked to your DNA. No take-backs.
"Once you confirm, your first real match is tonight."
I looked up. "Tonight?"
"The Heir requested immediate scheduling. We don't refuse the Heir." She checked her watch. "You have twenty minutes. Medical will meet you in the prep hall."
I wasn't listening anymore. My thumb was on the pad. I could feel my pulse in it. Sixty beats a minute. Sixty reasons not to press down.
Lina's face in my head. Flour on her nose. Asking when Mom was coming back.
I pressed.
The pad flashed. My thumbprint burned into the contract. The tablet chimed. Done.
And Nox screamed.
Not out loud. Inside. It ripped through my chest like something breaking. I gasped. My knees hit the floor. The woman was talking but I couldn't hear her. There was only Nox. Only the sound it was making. The name it was shrieking.
Rook.
Rook.
Rook.
"Stop." I grabbed my shoulder where it pooled. "Shut up. Shut up."
It didn't. It kept screaming. I didn't know why. I didn't know what the name meant. But Nox knew. And it was terrified.
The door opened behind me. I twisted.
Sloane Rook stepped through.
She looked different up close. Taller. Her coat was gone. She wore a black sleeveless top and her familiar was already out. Not shadowing her. Solid. Steel. A blade the length of my forearm that floated beside her shoulder like it was waiting for a target.
Her eyes found me on the floor. She smiled. Not kind. Not cruel. Somewhere worse.
"You're Mara."
I stood. My legs shook but I locked them. "Yeah."
"Good." She looked at the woman in the suit. "Is she confirmed?"
"Just now."
Sloane's smile widened. She turned back to me. "I watched your match. You're messy. Your bond's unstable. You don't know what you're doing."
I didn't argue. She wasn't wrong.
"But your familiar ate a classer-four construct in under a minute." She stepped closer. The blade followed. "So I'm going to find out if you're lucky or if you're something else."
Nox was still screaming. I shoved it down. "What are you talking about?"
The wall screen lit up behind her. The arena feed. The host's voice came through the speakers. Loud. Excited.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a rare event tonight. The Heir has issued a challenge. Mara Voss, welcome to your first sanctioned match."
The crowd roared.
Sloane's blade shifted. The edge caught the light. She wasn't smiling anymore.
The host kept going. "Per Heir privilege, this match will proceed under execution rules. No yield. No retreat. First blood to blackout."
My throat closed.
Sloane tilted her head. "I'll try to make it quick."
The door behind her opened. Two guards. One of them gestured. "Fighters to the floor."
She turned. Walked. The blade drifted after her like a dog.
I stood there. The woman in the suit was packing up her tablet. She didn't look at me.
Nox finally stopped screaming. But it was still cold. Still wrong.
I followed Sloane into the tunnel. The lights above buzzed. My hands wouldn't stop shaking. I curled them into fists.
Execution rules.
I'd signed my sister away for a fight I didn't know how to win against someone who'd been doing this her whole life.
The tunnel opened. The crowd noise hit me like a wall. The arena was full. Every seat. The lights were brighter than before. Hotter. The cage door was open.
Sloane was already inside. Waiting.
I stepped through. The door clanged shut behind me. The lock clicked.
The host's voice echoed. "Fighters ready."
Sloane raised her blade. It split. One became two. She held them loose. Relaxed.
Across from her, I pulled Nox out. It spilled over my arm. Shaking. Still scared.
The bell rang.
Sloane moved first.